KINGSTON, Jamaica — Vice Chancellor of The University of the West Indies (The UWI), Sir Hilary Beckles has been appointed chairman/chancellor of the United Nations University.

This appointment follows a sitting of the university’s governance council on December 7, 2024 in Tokyo, Japan.

His appointment takes effect in May 2025.

In accepting the appointment, Beckles thanked members of the university’s council and representatives of the United Nations as well as other organisations for their expression of confidence. He assured them that as the university enters its 50th year, under the management of its esteemed vice-chancellor and the guidance of the council, it will continue to rise as one of the finest global universities.

He noted further that his appointment is a signal honour for The UWI whose reputation and international connectivity will be enhanced as well as the Caribbean, the hemisphere and in particular, emerging communities in the global south.

Beckles has had a long-standing and senior role in the affairs of the United Nations. He has served in many capacities, among them as consultant to the annual United Nations Development Report on Latin America and the Caribbean; committees on the Global Future of Higher Education; vice president and historian to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) flagship initiative, The Slave Routes Project; and recently as joint editor of Volume 9 of the UNESCO’s General History of Africa series.

He has twice addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations, first in support of the international community’s declaration of 2015-2024 as the International Decade for People of African Descent; and secondly on matters of reparatory justice in a multi-polar political and economic world.

Beckles has also addressed the United Nations Security Council under the presidency of Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, on the subject of global peace in the deepening digitised north-south divide.

Recently, the United Nations Academic Impact Committee voted The UWI as the global hub for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13: Climate Action on account of Beckles’ lead in the establishment of The UWI’s International School for Development Justice in 2024, aimed at the delivery of online postgraduate degree programmes on the SDGs.

He had earlier served as special advisor to United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon on sustainable development, who he invited and welcomed to The UWI, as well as current General Secretary, Antonio Guterres.

Pointing to Beckles’ global reputation as a strategic planner in higher education as well as a respected scholar and thought leader in development thinking, the council expressed its keenness to work under his chairmanship.

The position of chairman/chancellor is honorary, with a mandate to facilitate the leadership of the rector/vice-chancellor of the University and to guide the council in a manner that sustains the confidence of international and internal stakeholders, primarily the leadership of the United Nations, faculty members and managers, private sector investors, and students.

The United Nations University is a global academy, headquartered in Tokyo, with research and teaching institutes in multiple countries.